Intermountain Jewish News Denver March 2, 2007 Vol. 94, No. 9 Pages 15 & 27
The {Strangest} Song: One Father’s Quest to help his Daughter Find her Voice
By Teri Sforza
With Howard and Sylvia Lenhoff
Prometheus Books, Amherst, NY
By CHRIS LEPPEK
When Howard Lenhoff’s daughter was just a tiny child, he received his first clue as to the rare secrets that were hiding in her mind. The then-young father, a budding biochemist, was relaxing at home, strumming his guitar, and the sound it made attracted Gloria, his young daughter.
In fact, she was not just attracted to the music. She was absorbed by the sounds produced by the guitar strings, almost mesmerized by them. It was the first real interest the girl – originally diagnosed as “mentally retarded” as the result of birth trauma – had shown in anything.
Her father took note.
The Strangest Song is the story of the remarkable journey that Gloria Lenhoff and her parents then embarked upon. It is a journey that began with the fatigued despair of new parents, having just discovered their daughter’s developmental disabilities, but culminated with their daughter’s remarkable musical accomplishments.
Fascinated by Gloria’s magnetic attraction toward music, Lenhoff began exposing her to music at a very young age. Her skills at memorizing melodies and rhythms were immediately remarkable, and her abilities as a singer even more amazing. It was only when these abilities made Gloria the subject of a nationally broadcast PBS special that experts were able to clarify the girl’s condition.
She was not developmentally disabled because of birth trauma, as originally misdiagnosed. Instead, she had a genetic disorder called Williams syndrome, a molecular aberration that occurs once in every 7,500 births. The condition imposes severe limitations on physical and psychological development.
Gloria faced all of these limitations, but her musical genius continued to blossom in spite of – and perhaps because of – the syndrome. It was the latter possibility that drove Howard Lenhoff on a decades-long mission to prove that people with Williams syndrome had savant-level abilities when it came to music. He immediately saw the benefits such knowledge could bring, not only to his daughter but to thousands of others with the syndrome.
When fellow scientists remained unconvinced – and, in fact, sometimes called him crazy – Lenhoff took his message to the media (including the Intermountain Jewish News, which published several of his opinion pieces on the subject). There, Lenhoff began to find a more receptive audience, until, very gradually, the scientific community not only to begin listening to him but was ultimately able to prove that Lenhoff’s hypothesis had been correct all along.
An activist by nature – many members of the Denver Jewish community may remember him for his advocacy work on behalf of Ethiopian Jewry during the 1980s – Lenhoff also played a pivotal role in founding the Berkshire Hills Music Academy in Massachusetts, a school that helps develop the musical skills of people with Williams Syndrome.
As compelling as Howard Lenhoff’s crusade is, however, the real star of The Strangest Song is Gloria Lenhoff. Her musical career over the past three decades is enough to make most professional musicians envious. A classically trained lyric soprano, she is also an accomplished accordionist; has made several recordings; performed at Washington’s Kennedy Center; appeared on “60 Minutes,” “Nightline” and “Inside Edition”; and shared the stage with elite classical, blues and rock musicians.
Written beautifully by Teri Sforza, a reporter for the Orange County Register, The Strangest Song is compelling strictly for the fascinating and dramatic story it tells of Gloria’s struggles and ultimate triumphs. It is, however, much more importantly, a story of human perseverance and spiritual encouragement, a tale that cannot help but provide hope to people with any number of disabilities and to those who love them.
